The Government has asked the Productivity Commission to hold an inquiry into the resilience of the New Zealand economy to supply chain disruptions.

“The shock to the global economy over the last three years from the COVID pandemic has been considerable. While New Zealand’s supply chains have shown resilience, there are still challenges,” Grant Robertson said.

“This inquiry will identify ways to enhance the resilience of New Zealand’s economy to persistent medium-term supply chain disruptions.

“The Commission will engage with stakeholders to select a definition of resilience appropriate to the inquiry, identify industry level supply chain vulnerabilities, and recommend policy responses that assist in anticipating, preparing for, responding to, recovering, and learning from these supply chain disruptions.

“The commission will work closely with other agencies that have existing work programmes underway in this area including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Ministry of Transport,” Grant Robertson said.

Drawing on the findings of the investigation the Commission will develop evidence-based recommendations which should:

· Identify possible policy responses and interventions to support resilience, productivity and wellbeing

· Identify a framework for targeting support for firm, sector, and community resilience in response to particular vulnerabilities to supply chain disruptions

· Assess whether and how current policies address vulnerabilities and dependencies in global and domestic parts of export and import supply chains

· Assess whether and how resilience objectives are integrated into existing policies and, if necessary, recommend the development of additional initiatives

More details about this inquiry, including Terms of Reference and key inquiry dates, are available at the Commission’s website.

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